Can Furiosa’s standout characters dwell as much as the Doof Warrior legacy?

How do you high one thing that’s already ridiculously, joyfully, emphatically excessive? That’s the massive existential query George Miller confronted in making Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the hard-charging prequel to Mad Max: Fury Street. The primary movie is maximalist to a fault, with screaming, bald, white-painted Struggle Boys gleefully spray-painting their enamel chrome earlier than throwing themselves to their deaths, and chase after chase that includes a large Struggle Rigs and nigh-infinite smaller automobiles lined in skulls, chains, creepy dolls, and the rest the designers might graft on.

However nothing within the film is extra excessive than the Doof Warrior, the fan-favorite hard-rocker who bungie-hops round a large stack of audio system, wearing crimson lengthy johns and his lifeless mom’s face, wielding a fire-spitting guitar as he performs sick licks to encourage Immortan Joe’s hyped-up assortment of Valhalla-minded dummies to go even tougher in fight. Lately, a bunch of Polygon staffers have been discussing Furiosa, and somebody requested, “Who’s the Doof Warrior equal on this film?”

The obvious reply is that there isn’t one — no less than, there isn’t somebody who’s ridiculous in the identical means and on the identical degree. However probably the greatest issues about Furiosa is that Miller isn’t simply attempting to copycat himself, so he doesn’t, say, throw a flame-spewing brass band into his new film to up the ante on one thing that was already excellent. However by way of who Furiosa’s breakout character may be — who would possibly encourage fan artwork and fan engagement, as soon as extra folks have seen the film — nicely, we’ve received totally different opinions on that one. Witness us!

Praetorian Jack

Picture: Warner Bros./YouTube

Jack is in some methods the precise reverse of the Doof Warrior — quiet the place DW is showy, content material to vanish right into a crowd as an alternative of residing for the spectacle, and a way more trendy dresser. (Crimson PJs are so pre-apocalypse.) However I feel he will be the character who goes the gap within the fandom, as a result of just like the Doof Warrior, he stands out as radically totally different from everybody else. There’s simply so little house within the Mad Maxiverse for individuals who do their jobs with out yelling about it continuously and attempting to make each success appear greater and extra praiseworthy than it truly is.

And his reference to Furiosa appears designed to go away a mark on viewers — possibly even an even bigger mark than it leaves on Furiosa herself. She’s so revenge-driven that she doesn’t have a lot room in her life for different folks, however she makes room for Praetorian Jack, possibly as a result of he’s well mannered sufficient to not take up extra space there than she’s prepared to offer. There isn’t lots of house within the Wasteland for tenderness or compassion, both, as Dementus tells us. The truth that Praetorian Jack manages to convey that into the franchise, too, makes him memorable at the same time as one of many sequence’ most undemanding characters. —Tasha Robinson

The Octoboss

Picture: Warner Bros./Everett Assortment

The one factor the Wastelanders of the Mad Max franchise respect greater than energy and violence is branding. Surviving on the Fury Street is all about choosing a theme, scrapping collectively a cool costume, and giving your self a nutso identify that individuals are too scared to not name you. And the one that does all that one of the best in Furiosa is the Octoboss.

Dementus’ onetime ally, who finally makes it clear that he’s out for his personal features as an alternative, fills all the standards of one of many Wasteland’s nice weirdos. He’s received a terrific helmet, pitch-black and doubtless inconceivable to see out of, with towering horns that certainly have an effect on his stability, and a squad of loyal riders who will die at his command. However simply as importantly, he additionally is aware of learn how to exit like a badass. Positive, he will get shredded on the finish of his ill-fated try at conquest, however God, what a good looking, tentacle-y mess he leaves behind him! As an added bonus, his octopus costume additionally offers us one of many film’s most gorgeous visible moments, and one of many clearest indicators that Miller goes for one thing way more painterly and unusual than the look he tried in Fury Street. —Austen Goslin

Smeg

Photograph: Jasin Boland/Warner Bros. Leisure

OK, to be actual, no one’s going to fixate on Smeg, Dementus’ weaselly, hunched hype man. Smeg’s complete existence seems to be constructed round standing subsequent to the warlord and reiterating the front-facing emotion of his statements in exaggerated mimicry, cringing low to point out sympathy and shaking his fists to point out triumph. Like a extra versatile, albeit mute Anger Translator.

No, I don’t count on to see a lot of Smeg at Comedian-Con — possibly a {couples}’ Halloween costume that includes Dementus and his most front-and-center hanger-on. However there’s one thing compelling within the concept of a Wasteland jester, jingling miserably throughout the mud. —Susana Polo

Struggle Pup

Picture: Warner Bros./YouTube

Quaden Bayles’ Struggle Pup has only one job: He runs the Bommyknocker, the contraption connected to the rear of the Struggle Rig. Immortan Joe’s mechanics are very pleased with the Bommyknocker, and when it hits the street for the primary time, Struggle Pup is worked up to lastly use this final weapon on the Fury Street — which is relatable, as a result of I spent that complete sequence equally enthusiastic about finally seeing what the Bommyknocker might do! However within the Wasteland, we’re all punchlines. Proper when it’s time to lastly use the Bommyknocker, Struggle Pup takes a bullet to the mind, and he by no means will get to see how freaking steel it’s in motion.

To me, Struggle Pup is most just like the Doof Warrior in that he has a really particular operate that the viewers is hyped to see, however he additionally appears way more fascinating than the restricted function he has within the Wasteland. Perhaps we’ll be taught extra about him in some type or one other finally, however in the meantime, the actor who performs him has a narrative that lives as much as the hype. Bayles went viral in 2020 after a bullying incident, picked on for his achondroplasia, a type of dwarfism. When Bayles’ story was observed by Australian information media, Miller reached out to offer him a small function in Three Thousand Years of Longing — and favored him sufficient to maintain working with him on Furiosa. Witness him! —Joshua Rivera